The seven members that were inducted into the Chi Alpha Sigma Honor Society in 2013, and again were honored in 2014 as Second Year Honorees. Copyright 2014; Wilmington University. All rights reserved.

Now in its fifth year of existence, the Wilmington University athletics department introduced 58 student-athletes as Academic All-Start on Sunday night at it annual Athletics Academic All-Star Banquet in the Audrey K. Doberstein Admissions Center Auditorium.

After dinner, the student-athletes and guests were treated by a visit from former Temple University and NFL player Raheem Brook who spoke to the audience. A Super Bowl winner with the Colts and NFC West Division winner with the Seahawks, Brock spoke to the student-athletes, parents, coaches, and administration in attendance about the trials ad tribulations he had to overcome as a young boy growing up in Germantown, Pa., in order to graduate high school and be accepted to Temple.

Brock continued his inspirational message for the students about overcoming obstacles to achieve your goals, and to also set new goals as life always changes. After Temple, Brock had one dream realized when he was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2002 NFL draft, but needed to make new set of goals as the hometown team couldn’t sign him.

Brock would spend the next eight years as a Colt, learning from NFL legends such as Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison, and Dwight Freeney. In part of his time as a Colt, Brock earned a Super Bowl ring winning the NFL’s Championship in 2006.

After continuing to learn all that he could from head coach Tony Dungy, Brock was signed by the Seattle Seahawks where his goals and passions turned from learning all that he could, to teaching younger players all that he knew. He then told the audience of such experiences such as the Marshawn Lynch “Earthquake Game” in the 2010 playoffs.

His message to the crowd today was to always have the student-athletes challenging for more. The numbers show that not all college players go professional in the sport that they play, so working as hard as possible in every aspect of life leaves the student-athletes a multitude of options to fall back on.

Assistant Vice President Dr. Jack Cunningham, Director of Athletics Linda Andrzjewski, and Associate Director of Athletics Brian August Followed with announcing this year’s 58 Academic All-Stars and handing out certificates.

In order to qualify as a Wilmington University Academic All-Star a student-athlete must carry at least a 3.5 GPA for the academic year

Wilmington, the second university in the state of Delaware to hold Chi Alpha Sigma National College Athlete Honor Society status, also recognized eight individuals that became second year honorees of the academic honor society, and inducted 11 more outstanding individuals into the 2014 class.

In order to be inducted into the Chi Alpha Sigma National College Athlete Honor Society, a student-athlete must carry a 3.5 or greater cumulative GPA and be of junior academic status.

Chi Alpha Sigma’s purpose is to: encourage and reward high academic scholarship of college athletes at four-year accredited colleges and universities; to recognize outstanding academic achievement by intercollegiate varsity letter winners; to encourage good citizenship, moral character, and friendship among the high academic achievers in college athletics, to recognize and honor the individual athlete, his/her team, sport, athletic department, and college or university; and to mentor and to provide leadership to other athletes.